Alexander Lebed

Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (20 April 1950-28 April 2002) was a Russian  general and politician who served as Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai from 5 June 1998 to 28 April 2002, succeeding Valery Zubov and preceding Alexander Khloponin. A nationalist who was compared to Augusto Pinochet and Napoleon Bonaparte, he was a popular presidential candidate, but he died in a helicopter crash in 2002.

Biography
Alexander Ivanovich Lebed was born in Novocherkassk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in 1950, and he joined the Soviet Army in 1969. He served as a VDV battalion commander during the Soviet-Afghan War, and he commanded an airborne division during the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, suppressing uprisings in Georgia in 1989 and in Azerbaijan in 1990. By 1991, he was a Major-General of the VDV and their second-in-command, and, during the August Coup of August 1991, he refused to use his soldiers to overthrow President Boris Yeltsin, instead defecting to Yeltsin's camp. He became rivals with fellow Yeltsin ally and military commander Pavel Grachev over Grachev's "misguided" military reforms, and it was because of Grachev that Lebed was deployed to Moldova in 1992.

Rise in popularity
Lebed oversaw the stabilization of the Moldova region despite his hatred for the Transnistrian government, and he became popular among the Russian public, especially among nationalists. In 1996, he ran in the presidential election as the nationalist KRO candidate, winning 15%, but losing the election to Yeltsin. He was compared to Napoleon Bonaparte and Augusto Pinochet by the West, as he was an honest, anti-establishment patriot who stood up against government corruption and wanted to restore order. In 1995, he retired from the army to enter politics, and he was elected to the State Duma. In 1996, he led the negotiations which ended the First Chechen War, and he was the most popular candidate for the 2000 presidential election during Yeltsin's second term. However, he was elected Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai in 1998, and he decided not to run for president. He died in 2002 when his helicopter collided with electric lines during foggy weather in the Sayan Mountains.